


Gotham By Night

by Andraste



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Community: fst, Fanmix, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-01
Updated: 2009-02-01
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andraste/pseuds/Andraste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fanmix made for the Fandom Soundtrack Project, now available on 8tracks.</p><p>Because the great thing about Anything Goes month is it means I finally get to post the fanmix about Batman's rogue's gallery made entirely of jazz, blues, lounge music and wacky Richard Cheese covers.</p><p>*listens to crickets chirping*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gotham By Night

One of the best things about _Batman: The Animated Series_ is the distinctive style that permeates everything. Men wear hats, everyone has trench coats and vintage cars. For some reason, TV is still broadcast in black and white in a world full of robots and computers. Down these mean streets walk the human horrors that make up the finest rogue's gallery ever assembled.

My aim with this mix was to capture the world of the show in music appropriate to its 'Dark Deco' atmosphere. Music one might here playing in one of Gotham's seedy bars, or perhaps the Iceberg Lounge ...

[Listen to this fanmix on 8tracks.](http://8tracks.com/draste/gotham-by-night/)

**1\. Night Life - Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson**

The lot of a Gotham supervillain is not an easy one. Choosing to take up a life of crime in the city Batman has devoted himself to protecting is the act of a fool or a lunatic, which probably explains why so many of the local criminals are a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Yet, paradoxically, the very presence of the Bat seems to inspire an unusual concentration of costumed criminals. Whatever their reasons for donning the spandex, Batman's rogues are a persistent bunch, inclined to continue on their wicked ways no matter how many trips they make to Arkham Asylum.

**2\. I Wanna Be Evil! - Eartha Kitt**

Rich socialite Selina Kyle commits her crimes partly to fund her animal rights work. She has both fought with and assisted Gotham's superheroes on different occasions, depending on the situation and her mood at the time. The skilful cat burgler has made no secret of her attraction to Batman, and no criminal gets under his skin quite the way Catwoman does.

_The lady or the tiger, Batman? It's your choice._

**3\. Happy Go Lucky Local - Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra**

Despite his outlandish appearance, his trained birds, his trick umbrellas and his determination to wear a tuxedo to every occasion, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot is one of the few members of the colourful Gotham underworld certified completely sane. The Penguin's quirks are eccentricities rather than compulsions, which probably explains why he was eventually able to become a semi-legitimate business man once he realised that it paid better. Plenty of shady deals are done in his Iceberg Lounge, but the Penguin has adopted a policy of staying out of Stonegate Prison whenever possible.

_Sorry for the intrusion sir, but at least you've been ransacked by a man of impeccable taste._

**4\. Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra**

Pamela Isley's crimes are not motivated by a desire for money or power, but by her quest to protect all plant life. As the well-known villain Poison Ivy, she puts her phD in Botany to poor use committing acts of eco-terrorism. While her disdain for men is legendary, so is her cool and seductive charm. 

_They can bury me in the ground, as deep as they like. But I'll grow back._

**5\. Blue Rondo a la Turk - The Dave Brubeck Quartet**

Efficency expert Temple Fugate lived his life in strict adherence to a precise schedule. His life was divided up by the tick of the clock until Hamilton Hill, Gotham's future mayor, convinced him to lighten up a little. The unintended consequences of this advice lead to Fugate loosing his business and his livelihood, and he swore revenge on Hill. Using his extraordinarily precise sense of timing, he became the villain Clock King, a surprisingly effective threat to Batman and the city at large.

_He did worse than that - he made me late!_

**6\. Shall We Dance? - Fred Astaire**

A genius obsessed with puzzles, Edward Nygma was a successful game designer until fired by the software company that continued to make millions from his work. He became the Riddler and sought revenge on his former employer, running afoul of Batman in the process. Committing crimes soon became another obsession for the Riddler, but he can never overcome his compulsion to leave clues to his plan. He considers Batman his only worthwhile intellectual opponent, and his crimes may be partly motivated by the desire to cross swords with his enemy again.

_I could be giving you clues right now. Or maybe you're just paranoid._

**7\. Mean to Me - Billie Holiday**

In a previous life, Doctor Harleen Quinzel was a respectable psychiatrist - until she met the Joker, fell helplessly in love and turned to crime to win his affection. Serving as his loyal sidekick, Harley Quinn will always return to the side of her Mister J. eventually, no matter what an abusive jerk he is. During bad patches in their relationship, she can often be found committing crime alongside her other favourite partner, Poison Ivy.

_Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in twelve states and hopelessly in love with a psychotic clown._

**8\. Mack the Knife - Louis Armstrong**

One of Gotham's most feared mobsters has an even more surprising secret than Bruce Wayne - he's a wooden dummy. Scarface's ventriloquist Arnold Wesker suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and has attributed a splintered fraction of his own personality to the doll. The duo's relationship is not a harmonious one, with the Ventriloquist living in terror of his own stronger alternate personality. Despite being made of wood, Scarface is one of Gotham's cleverest crime bosses.

_Up against Scarface, he's just another dummy._

**9\. Light My Fire - Erma Franklin**

Garfield Lynns was a special effects and pyrotechnic expert until his affections were spurned by his employer, the pop singer Cassidy. After trying to immolate her and then the whole city for revenge, he turned to fire-related crime permanently. 

_Tonight, Gotham will burn._

**10\. Alice in Wonderland - Bill Evans Trio**

Brilliant scientist Jervis Tetch became a super villain almost by accident. Thwarted in love, he gave into the temptation to use the mind control device he had invented on the woman who rejected him. After his initial defeat at Batman's hands, the Mad Hatter became a fixture in the rogue's gallery. He blames the dark knight for ruining his life, and his innovative technology has been turned to a wide variety of criminal ends.

_Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you join the dance?_

**11\. Psyche - Nouvelle Vague**

As the man in charge of Arkham Asylum, Lyle Bolton saw himself as a natural ally of Batman. However, when Bruce Wayne discovered that he was mistreating the terrified inmates, he made sure that Bolton was fired. Furious, Bolton copied the tactics of the people he had imprisoned and became the costumed villain Lock-Up.

_If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem._

**12\. Cry Me A River - Mari Wilson**

Mary Dahl was born with systemic hypoplasia, a medical condition which kept her from ever growing. While she found brief fame as the star of a sitcom, her attempts to be taken seriously as an actress were doomed to failure, and like many of Gotham's rejected she turned to crime in search of revenge.

_Why couldn't you just let me make believe?!_

**13\. Stardust - Hoagy Carmichael**

Like Mary Dahl, Matt Hagen was once an actor. His career was successful until he was disfigured in a car accident. Hagen was offered a miracle cure for his injuries in the form of an untested cosmetics compound called RenuYou. Unfortunately for Hagen, the cream proved dangerously unstable and turned him into the villain Clayface.

_You know what I'd have given for a death scene like this? Too bad I won't get to read the notices._

**14\. Creep - Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine**

Bullied as a child, Jonathan Crane grew up fascinated by fear. When his psychological experiments grew too extreme for the law, he continued his quest to understand the most primal of emotions by inflicting it on the citizens of Gotham as the supervillain Scarecrow.

_Fear is power._

**15\. Man With the Hex - The Atomic Fireballs**

One of the most physically powerful of Batman's rogues, the assassin Bane enhances his already considerable abilities with the super-steroid venom. While he is fascinated by Batman and studied him carefully, Bane was never quite able to overcome the caped crusader's skill with his immense strength.

_I feared you were gone forever, Batman - and that would have meant I'd never feel your spine crumble in my hands._

**16\. Frenzy - Screamin' Jay Hawkins**

Former pro-wrestler Killer Croc is a man of simple tastes and simple aims: to steal as much a possible from a society that rejected him for his outlandish appearance, and to beat Batman. Preferably by bashing him over the head with a heavy object.

_Hit him with a rock!_

**17\. Season of the Witch - Doctor John**

District Attorney Harvey Dent was once a close friend of Bruce Wayne. There was a darker side to his nature, however, and his placid exterior concealed a life-long struggle with his repressed anger. When a horrible accident left him terribly scarred, this facet of his personality came to the fore as the deadly villain Two-Face.

_Heads or tails?_

**18\. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home? - Miles Davis**

Doctor Victor Fries was a highly respected scientist before his beloved wife Nora was diagnosed with a terminal disease. He developed a cryogenic technique to freeze her until a cure could be found, but a tragic accident covered Fries' body with cooling fluid and left him unable to survive outside of a subzero environment. Building himself an temperature-controlled suit and an ice gun, he sought vengeance as Mr. Freeze.

_This is how I'll always remember you - surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful._

**19\. Down With the Sickness - Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine**

The greatest of Batman's villains, the Joker has been the most dangerous man in Batman's rogue's gallery ever since the Dark Knight accidentally caused his fall into a vat of chemicals. Once an ordinary gangster and hit man, the nameless criminal was reborn as the Clown Prince of Crime and has been stalking Batman with glee ever since.

_Ahh! The wind in my hair and the Batman at my heels! It's the kind of night that makes you glad to be alive._

**20\. Ain't Nobody's Business - Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis**

In the end, perhaps all any of Gotham's rogues really want is to commit a whole crime spree without that pesky Batman intervening. Alas, it seems doomed to remain a distant dream - wherever Gotham's rogues go, so goes the Bat.

**Bonus Track: Say That We're Sweethearts Again - Harley Quinn**

In the episode _Harliquinade_ , Harley Quinn teams up with Batman to stop the Joker blowing up Gotham. At one point he's captured by a room full of mobsters, and it's up to her to distract them ... with a song! _Say That We're Sweethearts Again_ was written by Earl Brent for an MGM musical in 1944, long before Harley was invented. It's terrifyingly appropriate for her relationship with the Joker.

_I never knew that our romance had ended, until you poisoned my food ..._


End file.
